tanker-aviator-naturalist's Identifications

Partly concealed by the creekside meadow vegetation, this looked eerily like the bleached cranium of a human skull emerging from the soil as though unearthed by the last flood. When I brushed away the grass and leaves it turned out to be a large grapefruit size Puffball, firm, resonant, and probably still growing. Some recent rains, after an unusually dry summer, have allowed some life cycles that have been suspended during the drought to resume.

This fungal mass was near the bank of a barely flowing small stream in the Buffalo Creek watershed, in a meadow that was from 1789 to recently a sheep and cattle pasture, surrounded by low hills covered in mesophytic mixed deciduous woodland, at an altitude around 342 meters (1122 feet).

The third photo shows that eight days later, it had swelled significantly, and reached nearly 20 centimeters (7¾ inches) across, and was being nibbled on, perhaps by White-tailed Deer.

I include this observation in part (besides that this is a beautiful and amazing plant) because of the date late in the season. I've seen these blooming in a number of locations in August and September, when their flowering peaks I would say, but this seems late, in mid-October. It's nice to see them, but I think some plants were running late because of an unusually dry Summer here.

This lovely native Lobelia was in the floodplain of a small stream running through former sheep and cattle pasture at the easternmost extremity of the Buffalo Creek watershed on the Allegheny Plateau, surrounded by hills covered in mixed mesophytic deciduous second growth forest. Elevation down near this (slow moving right now) creek is around 341 meters (1119 feet).

This looks like a fresh so-called "Deer Rub."

This was an American Sycamore sapling that I transplanted from much farther down the valley, along Buffalo Creek below Taylorstown, in honor of my Mother's 99th birthday in September, 2022. I had hoped it would thrive along our creek for a few centuries, where all the Sycamores had evidently been eradicated generations ago by sheep farming. I had a plastic mesh fence around it until a deep flood removed it, leaving the well established little tree, Nothing seemed to be nibbling the leaves, so I thought it was well on its way to becoming an impressive feature in the landscape.

Until this Yom Kippur. I was enjoying a walk along the stream, enjoying the quiet deep in thought when I came across my favorite little tree - literally thrashed to pieces.
: (
This is called a Deer "Rub"? More like a "Thrash"!

We have four large White-tailed Deer Bucks that have been hanging out together all Summer. They each have nice new eight point antlers, in velvet for months. Now, their horns are newly polished and gleaming clean, ready for Deer games and contests.

Next time I transplant a tree with hopes that it reaches maturity, I must endeavor to protect it for a longer period of time from not only floods, but rambunctious Bucks as well.

Immediately after I took these pictures, not coincidently, I photographed a very likely culprit only about eighty meters away, looking quite pleased with himself, with his horns buffed to a bright perfection. I can't blame him though.

See:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247715754

This White-tailed Deer Buck (male) was sporting a very fine, evidently newly polished set of antlers. I spotted him slowly walking toward me minutes after finding a treasured transplanted American Sycamore sapling that had been thrashed to shreds recently enough that the detached leaves had hardly wilted. : (

See:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247713149

In any case, I just stood still and tripped the camera shutter occasionally as this handsome fellow walked calmly toward me for over eleven minutes, in the fading light starting five minutes after local sundown. I could never have gotten such clear pictures without a tripod and a lot of camera image amplification (high ISO). Even so, I underexposed by one stop and brightened them in 'post', to get as fast a shutter speed as possible. Pretty good results considering how dark it was.

When this fellow finally spooked and crossed the creek, I could see that he was joined by three other Bucks that I hadn't noticed in the distant brush. There were a group of 4-6 Does (and Fawns?) in another direction, across the road.

I was mesmerized watching this Buck approaching me. He clearly saw me and looked straight at me at times, but as I made no threatening sounds or movements, he continued directly toward me confidently for such a long time. I'm not sure what finally made him nervous - perhaps the sound of my DSLR camera mirror and shutter.

See also, for another observation likely of this same Buck earlier in the year:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243978981

I don't think that I have ever seen, or at least examined, an American Barberry (Berberis canadensis), so the technical descriptions involving umbels vs. racemes are lost on me a bit when applied to this stunning invasive woodland floor-cover. I do see more than one fruit or berry hanging from the same points here and there, but nothing like a clear "umbrella"-like structure. That requires more experience applying such terms to actual samples than I possess.

These brightly coloured bushes were covering a larger area I think than I have ever noticed anywhere else before, on both sides of the graveled access road (footpath) near the dam across Cross Creek. I would roughly guess they formed a patch or grove 25 meters in diameter - I couldn't see the end of them down over a bank in the woods. Elsewhere, I usually see only single scattered or small clumps of these beautiful arching shrubberies. I don't like that they are invaders displacing native species and negatively effecting some arthropod (and increasing tick) populations, but this is a County Park where I suppose something could be done if they got out of control (or does anyone care?).

This was in mixed deciduous woods in the Cross Creek watershed on the rolling Allegheny Plateau. Elevation around 306 meters (1004 feet).

An interesting looking Lichen about which I know almost nothing, and so I'm learning as I go, looking it up online.

The main body of the Lichen is so thin and closely adherent to the angular sandstone chunk on the ground (which is otherwise largely covered in a Moss) that it looks like spilled light grey-green paint. It was about 10 centimeters (4 inches) across. Scattered across the middle are small thin grey discs with black edges, the larger ones of which abut nearby ones, occasionally overlapping or merging, forming irregular clusters. These apparently are the fruiting bodies or spore producing structures. They are conspicuously smaller towards the outside, and entirely absent near the edge of the Lichen.

Many sources say that this Lichen is found especially on siliceous rocks and boulders. Our local sandstones I have always thought were mostly quartz sand with, I assumed, a calcium carbonate type of cement. That at least is a feature of some sandstones in the Chestnut Ridge east of here. What might the silica content be of these impure local Permian strata? Quartz sand can be up to 95% silica, so I guess a silica loving Lichen would feel quite at home on our exposed rocks here.

This rock was at the surface on a slope adjacent to a large earthen dam on Cross Creek on the Allegheny Plateau, where the geology consists largely of repeating sequences of relatively thinly bedded Permian sandstones, shales, and limestones, with some coal layers. These rolling hills are dissected by small streams, and covered in mixed deciduous (Maple-Oak-Beech-Hickory) woodland, mostly second growth. After an unusually dry Summer, this location remains fairly sheltered and damp, carrying some runoff. Elevation here around 313 meters (1027 feet).

I was delighted to come out of the dark woods into a bright view of the lake on the dam, surrounded with Butterflies and Grasshoppers of several kinds. The most numerous of the Butterflies were these Sulfurs. There seemed to be at least one in my field of view as I walked completely across the dam. They were attracted to several flower species, including White Clover, as in these photos.

This was on top of a large man-made earthen dam across Cross Creek in the County Park of the same name, on the Allegheny Plateau of extreme southwestern Pennsylvania, surrounded my moxed deciduous woodland, at an elevation around 316 meters (1037 feet). It was an overcast 23°C. (74°F.). It was an overcast 23°C. (74°F.).

This is a new species for me, on a day when I wasn't expecting to see too many Butterflies, but proved productive. I love that the Genus name means "easily scared." True enough, it was not very approachable, keeping its distance quite quickly moving about low above the grass.

This was definitely a "disturbed area" - a large earthen dam that is regularly mown to keep it clear, and likely seeded with grasses and effective ground covers. There were a couple Butterflies out enjoying the late flowering plants. A yellow flower was attractive to these nectar feeders, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe someone can recognize it.

This was in a County Park on a dam that impounds a large lake, in the rolling hills of the Allegheny Plateau, surrounded largely by mixed deciduous woods, at an elevation around 316 meters (1037 feet). It was an overcast 23°C. (74°F.).

These colourful Grasshoppers were numerous out in the open on the mown slopes of a 23 meter (77 feet) high earthen dam across Cross Creek that impounds a 258 acre lake in a County Park. As I walked, one after another Grasshopper flew out from under me a short distance the whole time. I took several sequences of photographs of them, but the best closeups were of this individual conspicuously perched on a sandstone boulder near the water's edge. It was fairly large - I would guess about 35 millimeters (1 3/8 inches), but I'm guessing that this is a male, with a rounded unturned tip to the abdomen (females tend to be even larger). Can anyone confirm the sex? I like to include that in the data, but am not very experienced in insect identification. This seems definitely an adult Grasshopper, with mature proportions and long wings.

Insects are structurally so interesting to me; I wish I could examine them more closely with a good macro lens, or a stereo microscope. I am quite nearsighted, which I find a blessing.

This Grasshopper and his cohorts were out in the open in huge numbers on a mostly overcast late September afternoon. It was 23°C.(74°F.), at an altitude around 315 meters (1033 feet).

Although this looks superficially like a Fungus, it is actually a Plasmodial Slime Mould, tiny one-celled amoeba-like creatures that, I believe, occasionally come together with others to form a sort of colony that works together to create this large "fruiting body." A sister of mine, a Biologist, once studied how it is that these deceptively simple organisms actually communicate chemically and coordinate to function much like a multicellular creature at times. I think I would like to see them in time lapse photography, moving about. Fascinating.

The larger of these two clumps was about 15 millimeters across, a few millimeters smaller than the width of my index finger. Next to both of these clumps are apparently older dried out and ruptured spore producing fruiting bodies (or are those an associated Fungus?).

There is visible in the first photo also a tiny Ram's horn shaped snail shell near the top of the frame which I totally missed seeing at the time, or I would have attempted to make a better photograph of it, though it's at the limit of my equipment's ability, it was so small. Using the width of my finger as a yardstick, I measure it to be 1.8 millimeters in diameter. That's about as small a snail shell as I can see well enough to even notice.

This was in a mixed moist mesophytic deciduous woodland on the Allegheny Plateau, elevation around 297 meters (974 feet). Temperature was about 23°C. (74°F.) after a slightly drizzly morning (and an unusually dry Summer).

This good size Sassafras was among the most colourful trees in the woods in late September. For some reason, I just love the shape of these leaves; they seem so expressive in a way that is difficult to explain.

I've always been intrigued with the many traditional culinary and medicinal uses of different parts of the Sassifras, especially Root Beers and Teas. I think making Sassafras Tea was part of the Boy Scout experience of my youth. I certainly read the seven pages that Euell Gibbons devoted to the plant in his 1970 book, "Stalking the Wild Asparagus." Fascinating history and folklore.

This handsome specimen was in mixed mesophytic deciduous woods along a rough access road within a County Park in the Allegheny Plateau. Elevation around 313 meters (1027 feet).

This interesting fungal pathogen is effecting some Hawthorn (Cockspur Hawthorn Crataegus crus-galli?) pomes on a fairly young tree. One can even see the orange spores dusted below them on some leaves. If this needs an evergreen tree to complete its life cycle, the nearest are a Spruce and a Hemlock, both planted by nearby residents years ago, about 100 meters away to the east. Elevation is around 342 meters (1122 feet).

The fruiting Hawthorn Tree has its own Observation:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247766494

This is a beautiful large (about 30 centimeters or 12 inches across) example of this impressive species, and a double-decker at that. This was in the trunk of a Horse Chestnut that has been dead for a few years and is slowly falling apart. I have seen the Fungus produce these fruiting bodies multiple times, and finally photographed it with the idea of seeing just how often it fruits. Is it annual or semiannual? are successive appearances larger, or in any other way different?

This was in a farmyard in a valley in the Allegheny Plateau, elevation here around 347 meters (1138 feet).

The last picture shows the collapsing condition of the same Fungus only five days later. This type does not last so very long.

This handsome caterpillar was found hanging on the outside of a house door, behind a screen "storm" door. There must be enough room underneath the outer door for it to have crawled in. I thought maybe it was seeking the heat leaking from the house, and perhaps was searching for a place to spin and weave a big silken cocoon, but it turns out that that is not this species' way. They overwinter in this beautiful bristly form.

This one seemed to be suspended from its "hind legs" so to speak, relaxed and pendant, with orange bands of skin visible. I would estimate that it was nearly 6.5 centimeters in length (2.5 inches). The stray filaments entangled in its hair are simply spider silk I believe.

When I thought to measure it later, I found that it was gone - nowhere in sight. It had decided against spending the night on the door. The adults of this species are seen regularly resting out in the open on walls on the farm in the Summertime, and I'm noticing more of these Autumn caterpillars right now then ever before for some reason.

I am not much practiced in telling the various Maples apart. This fine tree interested me enough to try to identify it though. It is growing in an interesting way in a picturesque spot where it can be easily located over long term time (the next few centuries ahead).

Its trunk is now about 28 centimeters (11 inches) in diameter a meter or so above the ground, and the whole tree leans over a small creek with its roots somewhat undercut and exposed. They all spread out into the streambank and are large and somewhat moss-covered. The tree as a whole seems stable, but sort of suspended above the water. A nice quiet place for me to sit.

In addition to the native and beautiful Sugar Maple, I believe there may also be Black Maple and perhaps an occasional Norway Maple in this valley. This is in the eastern upper reaches of the Buffalo Creek watershed, on the Allegheny Plateau surrounded by old sheep and cattle farms and hills covered with mixed mesophytic deciduous second growth forest. Elevation around 342 meters ( feet).

A couple bunches of really lovely delicately colored Autumn leaves reveal the presence of an almost invisible sapling on a steep streamside bank, alongside a sandstone outcrop enveloped in the large roots of a Basswood Tree. There are an interesting variety of tree species along this little stream, including Sugar Maple, Black Walnut, Hawthorn, and Black Willow. Elevation about 341 meters (1119 feet).

I'd like to see this youthful sapling mature into a large tree, and now that I've identified it, I can keep an eye on it over the coming years. It is in a dramatic and picturesque setting above the creek.

These large Puffballs are the fruiting bodies of a Fungus that is otherwise underground in the soil of course, but how big are the unseen persistent growing structures? How big an area (or volume) do the mycelia of an individual fungal organism occupy? Are these four or five Puffballs fruiting bodies from a single extended fungus, or different individuals? Perhaps some late season rain after an extraordinarily dry Summer has suddenly brought out these large structures, but I seem to be finding them every time I look around in semi-overgrown flood plain habitats lately.

Having always heard that they are edible when relatively young (and still pure white inside), I found this one that looked like it had been cut with a knife as it grew and healed. I smelled the open area that had a slightly different texture, like a scar, and found that it had a peculiar, and not entirely appealing smell very like a wet dog that wants a bath with shampoo. If I were to pick a Puffball to eat, would this smell transfer to my hands and anything I carried it in? I assume it would be different once it was fried in some butter or whatever, but this smell was a little off-putting, and as of yet, I have not worked up the courage to cook and try this briefly abundant local wild food.

These appeared in loose groups like this all along this stretch of the Buffalo Creek floodplain that is here very loosely or openly wooded with Black Walnut and Willow, surrounded by more dense mixed Maple-Oak-Beech-Hickory forest, with some patches of planted evergreens around Camp Buffalo on higher ground. Elevation here around 290 meters (951 feet).

This plant caught my eye both by colour and by structure. In late October it was past its prime so to speak, but still distinctive enough to warrant a closer look, and sure enough, as soon as I entered a picture into iNturalist, I was reminded of what I had photogrpahed very nearby in mid-September a year before - a very interesting and distinctive species of Goldenrod that slightly resembles a palm frond in a way.

See:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/191014028

So this is what they look like later in the year; very different but still recognizable. I can't make out any flower or seed structures, but am not sure what to look for.

This was above an old roadbed in State Game Lands in mixed hardwood second growth woodland, on a precipitous slope above the floodplain, at an elevation around 295 meters (968 feet).